Basic Hummus

I know, I know… not another hummus recipe! A few of my friends here have asked for my humus recipe, and since I’m heading out of town for a month, I wanted to ensure that they had it before I left. I also wanted to share an awesome little trick that I’ve recently learned which results in super-smooth hummus. So hopefully there’s a little something for everyone in this post. And hey, I guess every vegan food blog needs a hummus recipe, right?

The only reason why I used to *somewhat* prefer store bought hummus was the amazing creaminess of it. I just figured that my cheap little food processor couldn’t get the hummus as smooth as industrial machines could. But then I came across Kristina’s post about peeling your chickpeas and ever since then, it’s been smooth-hummus-city in this house!

Pour them into a strainer and rinse. As you are rinsing, pick one up and squeeze it with your fingers, the skin comes off and the pea flies back into the strainer with the others…

Here are a few photos to show you how it’s done:

If you want the absolute smoothest hummus, you should do this for each chickpea. As Kristina says, it’s meditative. However, if you’re in a hurry, or not feeling particularly zen-like, then here’s my short-cut:

Toss the chickpeas in a big bowl filled half-way with water.

Rub the chickpeas between both hands (this was difficult to photograph and do at the same time – so here’s my one-handed version!)

The peels should rise to the water’s surface. Skim them off and rinse the chickpeas.

By my rough accounts (and depending how long you do it), you should be able to remove about half of the peels in this way. Your hummus won’t be as smooth as peeling each chickpea individually – but it will still be a lot smoother than not doing it at all.

Notes

I’ve made this for years without a recipe, but today I took notes (and used measuring spoons!) so that I could share the recipe with you.

I pretty much always use canned chickpeas because I’m bad at planning ahead but you could certainly use dry ones.

I often toss other things in there like:

fresh chives

roasted red peppers

sundried tomatoes

roasted garlic (instead of raw)

fresh lemon zest (and halve the lemon juice)

So, if you love hummus and are still buying the store-bought stuff, I urge you to try and make your own. The cost difference alone should be reason enough (easily 1/2 to 1/3 the price – and even less if you use dried chickpeas).

37 Comments

I love the tip to skin the chickpeas but I’d go the extra step and prepare the beans yourself. I find a lot of canned chickpeas are under soaked or under cooked.

I recommend soaking the beans overnight so the germ bulges out and then cook them at medium heat until they are done about an hour or so and then you’ll find you were able to salt them to your preference and get them to a really perfect consistency before you start working with them. from here I find the skins slip off on their own and a lot of them are floating around in the water anyway.

The recipe also calls for water but if you use the salty water you cooked the chickpeas in it makes them even smoother.